Traditionally, a TV is for receiving and playing back broadcast from broadcasters such as TV stations, satellites, and cable operators. The broadcasters, and ultimately the major networks such as ABC, CBS, and HBO, or local stations, determine what they show and when they show any program. A viewer can only tune in or tune out. With the advent of broadband internet, internet enabled TV or streaming devices such as set top boxes and BlueRay disk players allow viewers to stream TV content from the internet. For example, a subscriber to Netflix or Amazon Prime can choose the movie they want and watch it at any time. Thus, with broadband internet, the viewers gain more control of what they watch and when they watch. In turn, the broadcasters lose some control of the TV screen and potentially some advertisement revenue.
The smart TVs or smart set top boxes put even more control of the TV screen into the viewers' hands. Google TV is one of the major smart TV set top boxes, and its home screen is not any of the TV channels. Instead, the screen shows YouTube, Google Play, Chrome, Search, and other services offered by Google. Similarly, another major brand Apple TV starts with iTunes, Netflix, huluplus, and other offerings from the internet. TV shows only take a minor space on the start screen, and viewers have to push a few buttons before watching any TV broadcast. It is estimated that half of all new TVs sold in 2015 will be smart TVs running some kind of operating systems. As a result, the broadcasters are expected to lose more control of the TV screen and advertisement revenue.
A major feature of the smart TVs or set-top boxes is the ability to run various apps, such as apps to stream movie, TV, radio or music from various sources, apps to browse webpages, apps to access social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and the ability to install and run additional custom apps. Some examples of apps include Netflix and Amazon for watching movies, DailyBurn for workout, Skype for video call, AccuWeather for weather forecast, and Angry Bird for video game. The potential for the variety and function of the apps are unlimited. Similar to picture-in-picture, many smart TVs are able to display TV contents, an app, and/or a web browser on the TV screen simultaneously. On one hand, this can be viewed as traditional TV broadcasters losing the TV screen to web contents. On the other hand, there is an opportunity for traditional TV broadcasters to add interactivity with viewers via the internet and enhance the TV experience.
A broadcaster, at times, would like to point the audience to a particular webpage, for example, a webpage for ordering a product, for voting or polling an opinion, or for more information on the broadcasting program. However, this is not without difficulties. First, the URL (uniform resource locator) of a webpage is usually quite long. It is not easy for an audience to remember a URL especially if it is spoken orally on TV or radio. Additionally, it is prone to making typos to type in a URL particularly if the URL includes misspelled words or meaningless character strings. It is equally cumbersome to ask the audience to go to a homepage and follow a link or type in a code because there are too many distractions on that homepage. An audience is likely to be distracted by something else on the homepage rather than following the instructions.
Therefore, to improve the interaction between a broadcast program and the viewer via webpages on the internet, a solution is required to conveniently link the broadcasting program to the webpage that is designated by the broadcaster in real time.